The Astros, Brewers, and Pirates are all looking to acquire a first baseman (Rosenthal, Dec. 15), with the Mets reportedly shopping 1B Ike Davis.

The Rangers are also shopping 1B Mitch Moreland, the Blue Jays are shopping 1B Adam Lind, and the Mariners could look to move 1B Justin Smoak, leaving the market saturated with underachieving first basemen (Rosenthal, Dec. 15).

In addition, James Loney signed with the Rays, meaning the Mets may be forced to sell low on Davis, according to industry sources (Puma, Dec. 13). Alternatively, the Mets could consider trading Lucas Duda instead of Davis if they can get a better return (Puma, Dec. 13).

In either case, Sandy Alderson said on Wednesday during SNY’s Mets Hot Stove he will not “give away” either of his first basemen in a trade this winter.

Like this:

I'm not sure I understand why Ike Davis has trade value at this point. He's not only getting increasingly expensive and less controllable, but he swings at a baseball as if he were trying to hit a hockey puck. Also, his defense is in decline. Also, he may have Scarlet Fever, Valley Fever, the bubonic plague or any number of other maladies that are fundamentally affecting his ability to function as a member of the human race.

If I'm a rebuilding club like the Astros or the Brewers, or a contending club like the Pirates, yeah, I'm hopping on board that train. I'm convinced MetsBlog is artificially inflating Ike's value; for what reason, I am uncertain.

Ike will not be given away, his $3M salary goes with him. So my guess is that a decent prospect will get him gone. They will go into ST with Duda (ugh) and Satin, and see if anybody can challenge for the spot. Duda has an option left so he could be in Vegas if he tanks. Personally, I can't take any more of D&D, but short of any major trade, we appear to be stuck with at least one of them, which will be Duda.

One of the biggest problems on the Mets is talent evaluation. In recent years, we've seen literally hundreds of at bats being given to obvious AAAA players like Justin Turner, Mike Baxter, Andrew Brown, etc, as if they were prospects. It's the same with Davis and Duda; everyone in baseball knows they're stiffs, but Alderson insists he's not going to "give away" players. But there's such a thing as addition by subtraction. The above mentioned players (and you can add Murphy to that mix) simply aren't winning professional baseball players, and most organizations would simply release these types. But these are the Mets - they hold onto stiffs as if they are chips. Lame.

Why isn't Flores playing first base in the winter leagues. Hold onto Murphy (he can hit) and put Flores at first base and show the same patience with him that you did with Duda and Ike. Eventually he will hit 300 and drive in runs consistently. Release Duda and Ike - save the money. Flores will be cheap, sign Drew - 3 yrs / 30mil.

Now, back to Flores not playing the right position. This is typical Mets fashion. They never play guys where they project at the majors. Reminds me of how they screwed up Jeffries playing him at SS in the minors until he came to the majors. Similar to Murphy being forced to the OF when he never did in the minors. Duda playing the OF when he always played 1B in the minors.

They have no plan. It's like little league. If they can play SS, they can play anywhere. If you can play first, you can play the OF. No, this is the majors, it doesn't work like little league. Only the Mets.

I find the Ike/Duda obsession funny. While these two aren't very good, this is a team of misfits and awful players. Sometimes when I read about these two, I get the impression that if we dumped them, we'd be a championship caliber team. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Any way to trade most of the team?

Ike and Duda are platoon players. At this point, they are young veterans, chunky number of ABs in the MLB. They have almost identical stats against RHP, which aren't bad and actually could help the team. But despite plenty of chances, NEITHER one can hit LHP (Ike has been RIDICULOUSLY bad against LHP, even in his early good seasons).

They are who they are !! If you don't like platoons, then you don't like Ike or Duda. Either utilize their strengths and go platoon, or just let them go. The idea of giving continually "another chance" and expecting something different is fantasy.

Sandy says he won't "give away" Ike? Hmmmm...how about "exchange" for some other player on some other team who just needs a new chance for a different team. Ike CANNOT be Mut in 58 days...we endured the flame outs of Benitez, Heilman, Mo Vaughn, Bay....other options...Ike for any pair of AA arms, regardless of stature...2 dudes with 5+ ERA's, new arms, I'll take my chances that one of them will help more than Ike.

A lot of people think that there is no risk with keeping Davis. Some people say that it doesn't make sense to trade him because of his potential. The problem with this sentiment is that there is a risk with keeping him. If you throw him into the lineup everyday and he hits on the interstate it really hurts the team. There is 100% a risk in keeping him and playing him everyday

OK we get it, the market is thin for players like Davis and Duda. What did we expect? Both players really aren't very good. If they were, we wouldn't look to trade them. We are simply not going to get back much for either one and it looks more and more like they will both be back with us along with Josh Satin. Such is life in Metville. Something tells me that Josh Satin, even with his lack of power, might be getting the most at bats out of the three at first base. At least he can hit..."brow power" returns!

Why do you continue to waste bandwith on this issue? The Mets are not going to get anything of value for either Davis or Duda. Nevertheless one needs to be moved, or made a commuting resident of Las Vegas. The thought of platooning two free swinging, underachieving, left hand batting, first basemen is unrealistic. Then again, some of the people commenting in this section seem to have fallen through the looking glass.

Davis and Duda have little upside except for the possibility of potential. From that standpoint, Sandy should move Duda (who probably has more trade value at this point), and seriously expect a return like Ariel Pena.

They better move quickly, there is a lot of competition. The music might stop any minute on this one.

I do not think unless Tampa wants Moreland that Texas will just trade him He can play some OF give Prince a day off here and there at first while Prince DHs . so i do not really think Moreland is on the move. Now that Tampa resigned Loney they are not needing a Moreland. Too expensive for the Pirates. I do see Smoak getting dealt. Pittsburgh or Milwaukee the logical suitors maybe Houston. Honestly i think Duda gives another AL like Houston a more logical choice then Ike because Duda can DH and maybe play a game here or there in LF and does not cost the Astros much in return value or salary.

SO we were one game above .500 last season after June 18th with an OF of EY2, Lagares & Byrd. Byrd was traded in August. We had an IF of Wright, Q, Murphy & Duda. Coincidentally Ike was sent down June 17th, I think, and platooned when he came back for a few weeks. Buck & Recker were behind the plate & Buck was also traded in August, Wright missed a month late in the season also. I think we have improved our team more than we think.

TDA struggled with his first taste of big league action, but remember that he has been the #1 catching prospect in baseball for a couple of years now. Buck didn't impress me defensively, and aside from some April HRs, he was absolutely terrible last season. Even if TDA puts up a .245 10 HRs 50 RBI line with decent defense, and Recker produces roughly the same as last season, we will be improved at the position. TDA will have a much better OBP than John Buck ever has, and the more you get on base, the more runs you score. I think the improvement at the C position is worth +1.0 wins.

At 1B remember that Ike was probably the worst starting position player in baseball last season. Not only did he kill us by producing less than nothing at the plate, he was flat out awful in the field. We will be better offensively at the position by moving Duda to 1B, and we will most likely be better defensively at 1B than we were last season. Duda won't win a gold glove, but he has consistently been around league average defensively in over 400 innings at 1B. Satin will play vs LHP, and Duda hits RHP as good or better than anyone on the team. If the two are platooned properly, and Satin is used as a laste defensive replacement as well, we should go from the 0.0 WAR we got from Ike last season to roughly 2.5-3.0 WAR between Satin & Duda. We have at least upgraded the position by 2 wins just by not allowing Ike to step on the field. +2.0 wins

I don't understand why Murphy is so underappreciated by Mets fans, but he actually put up a 3.0 fWAR last season, which was 6th in MLB among 2B. He finished 2nd in the NL to Chase Utley, and Utley is 35 this season while Murphy will turn 29 in April. He may very well be the front runner for NL All-Star 2B. His defense will improve slightly as he really hasn't had that many reps at 2B as compared to other major league 2B. I actually think his batting line will improve slightly with a few more hitters in the lineup than last year. He hits RHP much better than he does LHP, so instead of playing 161 games next season, he should probably get 5 or 6 games to rest against a tough LHP. EY2 could get a couple of starts at 2B or Tejada if we get a SS. Tejada has always hit LHP well, would be a defensive upgrade late in games. +0.25

If Wright is healthy he will hit, and play good D, and steal some bases. He was 3rd in WAR behind only Trout & Cabrera before his injury. Having Granderson hitting behind him will allow him to see more hittable pitches. +0.25

We were the worst team in baseball by far at the SS position last year. We got absolutely nothing at the plate, but even worse, we were awful in the field at SS. Adding Drew would immediately add 3-4 wins to this team next season. We need to move Ikes salary & work out a deal with S. Drew. Tejada could give him a rest from time to time against a tough LHP to keep him healthy as well. Even if we sign someone like M. Kawasaki 2B/SS free agent that played in Tor last year, we will be much improved at the position. +1.0

LF was pretty bad last season until EY2 arrived. Duda was great at the plate as he hit 11 HR in the 1st 2 months of the season and was on pace to hit 30, but his defense in LF was among the worst in the league. Adding Granderson, who will play + D in LF is already an improvement even if he is more of a 20-25 HR guy now, and EY2 could keep Granderson healthy by giving him a day off once every week or so. +1.5

Lagares was a beast in CF last season, but he really didn't start playing until June. He was in AAA the 1st month and was hitless for next month before he started to click. I'm not sure he will add quite as much + D as he did last season, but if he is with the big club all year, it should be a wash from last season. I think he will take a small step forward offensively to provide a bit more than last season. Grandy, EY2, & C. Young can all play CF if Lagares needs a day off. +0.25

Chris Young could be a huge steal this season, but he also may be a huge waste of $7mil. He will be awesome defensively in RF, and I honestly think he could come close to replacing Byrds production from last season. He will be better defensively, and will steal more bases. Also, if he is on the team for the whole season, he will at least provide what Byrd did from April - the middle of August. +0.0

The rotation is already in better shape than it was last season. We started last year with Niese, Gee, Harvey, Hefner & Laffey. Marcum & Santana were slated as the 1 & 4 and were on the DL.

-I feel like Niese will at least be as good as he was last season +0.0

-Gee was one of the best SP in baseball for the last 4 months of the season. He was brutal the 1st 2 months as he was coming off of surgery. +0.25

-Colon was awesome last year, and if he can just stay healthy for half a season until Thor is ready, we won't be far behind what Harvey produced last year. Remember that Harvey missed the last month of the season, took a week off before the All-Star game, and we had a 6 man rotation for a month. He really on pitched about 4 months of the season. -0.25

-Wheeler should be able to produce the value the Hefner added in the 1st half, and he added in the 2nd half +0.0

-Hopefully Mejia can stay healthy, but I'm skeptical. Either way, he will still most likely add more value than Marcum did last season. Plus out defense is gonna be way better, which will make our SPs look even better than they are. +0.25

Bullpen should be roughly the same. Our pen wasn't great last year, and it isn't great this year. +0.0

We won 74 games last season, so if everything goes average, not good not terrible, we should be right at a .500 team right now. If we are able to move Ike for a useful bullpen piece, and we have enough money to sign Drew after trade, then we will contend for the Wild Card.

@Amazin' Raisin' I'm not sure he has any trade value left, as the Brewers reportedly turned down Aoki for Davis, and then dealt Aoki to KC for LH reliever Will Smith. Its fair to say that Ike currently has less trade value than Will Smith. Teams aren't exactly lining up to trade for him.

@Robert C. Smith the sad thing is, i don't think all of these players are AAAA quality. i think the mets' coaching staff messes a lot of them up by making the hitters work to their approach, instead of adopting a team philosophy and then adjusting to each player's needs accordingly

@Bob Giacalone I think they are both basically platoon players, which is fine. But I'm not going to fret about losing a guy like Davis, who would worst case scenario probably end up signing a minor league deal if we let him go in ST, and would rightly platoon on any team he signs with.

@slainte2 Some of the blame is on the players but a huge amount of the blame is on the organization, coaching staff and most specifically, Terry Collins. Sitting Ike especially vs lefties when we were out of the race was for....what reason exactly? To give Josh Waste of Space Satin a chance? I didn't understand it then when we were chance 70 wins and I understand it less now. If you struggle vs lefties the only way you're going to make adjustments and improve is through repetition.

@airfeet There is a bigger difference. Davis will not be counted on to hit cleanup like he was in the past. Davis will benefit from Granderson being in this lineup and hitting down in the lineup. Davis has already proved to put up a 30 HR season, something Duda has not. Should Davis rebound with a 30 + HR season he will be the biggest bargain at $4M. If the team wants a good return they will have to let him reestablish his value. Duda has more value now because of use at multiple positions, 1b, lf, DH. It comes down to this. Davis is a salary dump and Duda should net a somewhat return. Davis's value needs to be reestablished or your giving him away for nothing.

@Francesco MonastraSandy's patience can have its rewards, but it can also be costly. We lost Reyes and received nothing. We could have made a decision based on Davis & Duda's prior performance and could have traded them for organizational filler in November, or simply have not tendered them a contract. Money off the books. Roster spots open. It's like going to a store and finding the only two coats available are hideously orange. Stores can barely give them away.

@Ron Davis What is Seattle going to do with Smoak when they have Hart (who insists on staying out of the outfield) and Morrison? It just doesn't seem reasonable to expect them to keep all three on their active roster.

@dexx 100% agree with everything...I think as constructed this is a .500 team that is one hot streak from a wild card run...with pieces to make a deadline trade, there might actually be 'meaningful games in September'.

(Bonus points for writing a long post I actually read all the way through...)

@dexx I was all set to blast you for legitimately writing a blog post in the comments section, but I tend to agree with everything you said...so I won't.

Now, by no means am I that naive, falsely optimistic Mets fan, but I do believe this team can contend for a wildcard even with Tejada at SS and a Duda/Satin platoon at 1B.

The starting rotation is strong enough to keep this team afloat until the All-Star break. At that point, consider the boost guys like Syndergaard or Montero will give the team when they're called up. That's if Sandy/TC don't get ballsy in spring training and give one of them the nod earlier than expected. I don't expect that, but crazier things have happened.

Consider how badly this team tanked it in the 2nd half because of key injuries, Byrd's exit, and various auditioning periods for players. I mean, how god awful was Dice K for about 4 straight starts? Obviously injuries will occur this year too, but I think the entire organization's approach will be different post all-star break this season.

@Gabriel Luna The combination of the sprain/bone bruise and then contracting Valley Fever, really ruined his career. Valley Fever causes chronic fatigue, and can stay with you for the duration of your life. I read one documentation on the illness that a 30 year old man had suffered the symptoms of Valley Fever for nearly a decade, and his physician noted the he had the body of a 60 year old man at the time. I really think Ike has been, and will continue to suffer from the disease.

@Generic Mets Fan Jimmy Nelson is a gamer. I don't think the Brewers are gonna trade any young pitching. We might be able to get a reclamation project like Jed Bradley, who is a former 1st Rd pick from Georgia Tech and has struggled the last couple of seasons.

@flmetsfan@Ron Davis Morrison will play some 1B to give Smoak a breather and occasionally DH against a RHP to give Hart a day off. I dont think they view Lomo as an everyday player, and he is under team control after Harts contract is up. He is also insurance in case Hart is a shell of his former self. There is room for all 3.